"What's that?"

"A letter, obviously, to the ministry of magic."

"Is that wise?"

Sirius rubbed his eyes, "it's anonymous but I'll put the Gringotts' seal on it so they'll know it's important."

"Is it?"

"It is. It's a letter stating that your parent's will has been read citing Peter Pettigrew as the secret keeper. They'll know it is right because it's from Gringotts and they are the ones with the copy of the will, they can verify it if they wish with Ragnok and nobody messes with Gringotts because it is messing with Ragnok and he will cut your head off if you mess with one of his goblins like thwick and boom, gone, rolling across the floor like a bowling ball.

"And you can find out ratty Petey is alive because they only found a finger and that don't prove he's dead and anyway I think there is meant to be a book of souls or something in the bowels of the unspeakables department which is like a secret service and they are scarily smart guys who do like secret missions and stuff.

"I am also stating for them to look into the court cases; there was no trial, as the scion, as I was at the time, to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Black I will be taking this further. It was the previous minister and Crouch who pushed it, so Fudge should be able to shift blame like he does and that will deter him from pursuing me but Dumbledore was still chief mugwump at the time and who knows what his reasons are to do anything anymore."

Harry understood perhaps a third of that. "So what are you expecting to happen?"

"I'm not sure. A trial I guess. If Fudge sees it he'll either shit his pants and organise a trial straight away or shit his pants and attempt to sweep it under the carpet. This would be a lot easier if Lucius, who has our dear minister in his pocket, was in Azkaban, but I don't actually have any tangible evidence he is."

Harry attempted to lighten the mood, "you shouldn't swear in front of a minor."

"Doesn't count if it's literal," Sirius replied automatically and smiled in gratitude. "Pucking brat," he added under his breath.

"Shouldn't you get a lawyer or something?"

"That's just the thing, I shouldn't need one. If I get in contact with a lawyer that is admitting I might need one to help me because I have some guilt." He sealed the envelope shut with a glob of wax and pressed the Gringotts seal on it.

"You do," Harry reminded. "Not only are you an illegal animagus you fought in the Leaky Cauldron, killed my uncle, tortured my aunt, kidnapped my cousin – and me I guess – and those are just the things I know about."

Sirius shot him the stink eye. "Fine, I have accountability, doesn't mean I have any guilt, that's a useless emotion. Besides, what did I tell you about explaining yourself? People will draw their own conclusions no matter what you say. Azkaban was meant to drive me insane but it's actually left me perfectly fine."

Harry very nearly laughed.

"Do you want me to go and see if I can call Hedwig?"

Sirius shook his head, "let her enjoy her holiday. I want this delivered straight to the desk of the head of the DMLE. I'll get my house elf to do it."

"What's a house elf?"

Sirius started and stared at Harry. "How can you not know what a house elf is?"

Harry raised his eyebrow, "because I've never met one," he answered honestly.

Sirius ran a hand backwards through his hair like Harry did when he was stressed or frustrated. "Kreacher!"

The strangest creature (well named) appeared before them with a pop. Harry took a moment to appreciate he could get past goblin wards. He was an elderly beast, vaguely reminiscent of a goblin, came up to Harry's chest and had gnarled fingers that ended in claws. His face was haggard and seemed to be missing lumps out of his nose and large ears that extended half again the width of his face. His tennis ball eyes were narrowed at Harry in wariness. "Master calls?" His voice was icily cordial and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Kreacher," Sirius took charge, "this is Harry Potter, my godson."

This was, apparently a signal as Kreacher relaxed his posture slightly and opened his eyes. "What will Master be wanting Kreacher for?"

"I want you to introduce yourself."

Kreacher was definitely his master's elf and raised one eyebrow (or appeared to, the elf was hairless) and turned to Harry. "Kreacher is Kreacher, house elf to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black," he motioned to the Black crest (2 snakes of silver curled round a griffin) on the rather haggard robe he wore.

"Nice to meet you Kreacher, I am Harry Potter."

"Kreacher be knowing that."

"What is a house elf?"

Kreacher looked at Sirius who gave him a nod. "A house elf serves their master," he said as if talking to a young child.

"Serve how?"

"Whatever Master wishes."

That being said, Harry couldn't imagine Sirius washing and pressing his own robes as a young aristocrat. He already knew he couldn't cook. "So… you're a slave?" After living with the Dursleys, that made him distinctly uncomfortable.

Kreacher drew himself up taller, "Kreacher is proud to work for the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black!"

"All noble houses have house elves," Sirius said, "your father had one too when growing up."

"What happened to… him?"

"Hmm? Oh, he was bonded to Charlus so when he died the magic stopped fuelling him and he died. Don't look so shocked, it's how it works. A wizard or witch's magic gives magic to the elf that serves them if they have one, and the elf serves the wizard."

"But that's slavery…" Harry trailed off, "it seems wrong."

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back to Kreacher. "Hey, you want to be free?"

Kreacher's eyes widened in horror and turned from Sirius to Harry. "Kreacher is a good elf, Kreacher will do whatever masters wish."

Sirius turned back to Harry with a look that said, 'see.'

Harry nodded but was still wary.

"He's crazy so I don't make him leave the house too often."

Harry raised an eyebrow which Sirius matched.

"No comment."

"Kreacher," I want you to deliver this to the desk of Amelia Bones. Don't be seen."

Kreacher grabbed the letter, snapped his fingers and with another pop was gone.

"Kreacher may pretend he hates me when around others, this is important because it's part of my ruse to make sure I am underestimated, I would like your help to maintain it stay that way."

"Why?"

"You're still not listening about explaining yourself."

"I thought you said we should have no secrets."

"You impertinent know it all. I told you I will explain all another time, and I will, I swear on my magic," a faint golden glow pursed around him for a second which made Harry's jaw drop open in the blatant display.

He struggled to think f something to say that matched that blasé promise and came up empty. "Does he need to pretend to hate me too?"

"Little need. Just me."

Harry's birthday was a sensitive subject. He knew it was coming up; it was a little hard to keep track of time given the moving at half speed thing. All his other ones had been ignored or made fun of and he wasn't sure if he was ready for something vastly different. He rather expected to spend it like his other days, training and studying and it would still be better than all his other 'home' memories put together. However, knowing Sirius, and he reckoned he did, the insane man was probably going to make a huge display of his turning twelve and he didn't really want that but he was, perhaps a little, looking forward to getting presents for the first time.

The day before, Sirius gave no indication he even remembered his Godson's birthday coming up and wasn't asking him for a list or anything. Harry, for his part, didn't expect a huge pile of 39 but one or two would be good and seeming as Ron and Hermione had given his Christmas presents, there might be birthday presents for him waiting at school too. When he woke up in the morning he could feel a pressure on his stomach and legs. Opening his eyes he found himself face to snout with a huge blond dog. Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes and tried to sit up, but the dog had him pinned. Then it reached up and licked his cheek, leaving a line of slobber reminiscent of Fang.

"Ew!" Harry wiped it off on the back of his hand, a delighted smile on his face and wriggled out from underneath the dog to sit up fully. In response, the dog jumped off the bed, grabbed his cap in his mouth and started to bark excitedly and ran out the room.

Harry had barely put his clothes on before the dog ran back in, still barking. "Alright boy, alright," he managed to grab a fistful of fur and wrestle his cap free before the dog ran again, Harry got the idea and followed it. It led him out the quarters he and Sirius were staying in and through the corridors and caverns of the bank; he should have found it strange that the goblins did no more than glance at him running but the dog was keeping him at such a pace he had to push himself just to keep him in sight. "Slow down!" He called out as he skidded round another corner, dog already at the end of the corridor "I only have 2 legs."

The dog didn't pay the blindest bit of notice and continued to bark as they made their way to the entrance and Harry skidded to a stop just shy of it. The dog, under no such compunctions, sped straight through and only stopped when it realised it was no longer being followed. He could leave the bank without telling Sirius. The dog sure seemed to know where it was going, and he doubted Sirius would have let it in his room, in their quarters, without some sort of plan – but for understandable reasons, he didn't always trust his questionable plans.

"Go ahead." Harry turned to see Ironclaw standing by the entrance of the bank.

"Just leave?"

"I assure you that you are under the protection of the bank still Mr Potter, and quite safe, go ahead."

"Won't I be recognised?"

"The dog has a plan."

"The dog… has a plan?" Oh well, Harry shoved his hat on his head, pulling the brim down to cover his scar, a lot fainter but still visible and took off in pursuit.

Harry was led through the streets of Diagon Alley for the first time in what felt like months, in fact, it had been about 2; nobody looked at him twice as he weaved in and out of people, following the dog. It ran into a house and Harry supposed he should have stopped and wondered at it but Ironclaw had alleviated his worries, so very aware of his and on the holster at his wrist, he entered. Almost immediately the place flooded with light and party streamers, there was not a single human present but there were plenty of Goblins, Harry recognised Ironclaw, who must have apparated, Ragnok, Whitefang and Griphook.

"Happy Birthday!"

Harry took a couple of steps back. "Hi," he said intelligently, grin stretching on his face.

Harry spun around as the dog jumped to its hind legs and wrapped its front two paws around Harry's shoulders in a 'human' hug. Harry hugged him back while it barked and whined, tail wagging excitedly. "You planned me a birthday."

"Goblins do not celebrate Christmas, Easter and the like," Ragnok said, "a birthday is a person's most important day of the year."

"As a Goblin's friend," Ironclaw continued, "you have earned the right to have it celebrated the Goblin way."

"How does a Goblin celebrate birthdays?"

"We can start with a duel," Griphook said, drawing his sword, "and then move onto presents."

Harry drew his sword in response, Sirius had drilled it into him to carry it around in Gringotts the same way he wouldn't leave his room without his wand, and Griphook rushed him. The goblin was stronger than he looked, all goblins were, and he was shorter than Harry, but stocky and fast. Harry's sword was a blur as he parried, blocked and retaliated. He could tell the teller was going easy on him, Ironclaw and Ragnok would defeat him even quicker. With every second of duelling however, he felt he was making progress, and though he ultimately lost to first blood, as he knew he would, his grin only got wider.

For a present, Griphook gave a goblin shield; it could be fitted on his wrist like a wand holster and be expanded like a spell. "Like charmed jewellery and charms people have to deflect low level spells, a goblin shield is essential to a warrior. Harry didn't quite get how much of a praise this was until a little while later.

"Now that you have stopped waving it around like a lasso, you're ready for something more substantial." Ragnok came forward with a sword in a case, a trademark terrifying goblin smile on his face. Harry sank to one knee on instinct, even without studying Goblin nature, being gifted with another sword, a real one, from the Goblin director really did, as Griphook and he had touched upon a week prior, make him a Goblin warrior.

"Thank you director Ragnok," he said, opening the case. It was goblin crafted, the hilt itself was gold plated and studded with gems but Harry was more interested in the blade. Sirius had taught him how to recognise good quality from bad and good quality from Goblin. "I promise to wield it well, and avoid the pointy end."

Ragnok laughed a throaty sound and clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble.

Whitefang gave him a new pair of glasses and Harry was pleasantly surprised.

"Expecting books."

"I guess."

"I may be your teacher but this is your birthday, who wants homework as a gift."

Point noted.

When Sirius offered to get his eyes fixed, Harry had shrugged, rather liking the feel of glasses having had them for so long, so Sirius had suggested getting new ones, ones that fit his eyes better and maybe had adjustments in them like night vision or something but they hadn't gotten around to it yet. The jet black frames matched his hair and when Harry put them on, everything swam into almost uncomfortable closeness. He squinted, "don't tell me this is how everyone sees."

"It's how a Goblin sees."

He turned to Ironclaw, "no wonder I could never sneak up on you."

"You'll never sneak up on anybody with the noise you make, which is why I am giving you these." Harry opened the small parcel to reveal a pair of shoes, they too, were a simple jet black and weighed like air, it was like he wasn't carrying anything. "You don't need to worry about treading lightly with these," Ironclaw promised, "they'll take care of that. You can't always rely on magic to lend you speed, these will make you run like the wind."

"Magic shoes?" Harry put them on and jumped, not only did he shoot almost a full metre into the air, he made no sound as he once more greeted the earth, "awesome." He turned to the goblins present, "I don't know how I could ever thank you guys. I've never had a birthday party before."

"Well it's time to change that."

"Just one question, where's Sirius? I thought he'd want to be here."

"Do you want him here?"

"Of course. I don't trust him yet, or like him that much. But he is my godfather and my guardian. I'd like him with me for my birthday."

The dog barked and Harry started, having almost forgotten it was there. "Sorry about that boy, are you a present too?"

The dog barked again and walked to the window. Following, Harry saw a familiar sight approaching and opened the window as wide as it could go. "Hedwig!"

Living underground, Sirius and he had agreed that letting the bird fend for herself for a little while was probably in her best interests and Harry hadn't even realised how much he'd missed her, she was his first friend along with Hagrid and Ron and he never had to question her loyalty. She was carrying a letter on her leg and Harry recognised the scrawl as Sirius', he quickly opened it, hoping it was an explanation as to why he wasn't there.

Harry,

Sorry I'm not there to celebrate your birthday with you, trust me when I say I did not want to miss it. Seeming as you have never really had a party before, I wanted to throw one with all your friends but I'm sure you understand why that wasn't possible. I promise your next birthday will be better. I do not have a large present for you, so I hope this will do.

When you are ready, grab the dog and say mischief managed, the letter is portkey and will take you back to Gringotts.

Padfoot.

The slip of paper accompanying the letter was an official document Harry did not at first understand. Griphook looked over his shoulder and clued him in, "deeds."

"Deeds?" Harry looked around, "as in to the house?" He looked back at the documents, it was in his name, Sirius had bought him a house. He hadn't really paid attention to it before; he wanted his Godfather here, to thank him if nothing else. Padfoot, his animagus name, since he had his dream/memory, he had been trying to convince Sirius to show him how to become an animagus, though he had warily and reluctantly agreed, studying was yet to start. He looked at the far too intelligent dog and imagined it black.

God he felt like an idiot.

He stroked Hedwig's back where she'd taken residence on his forearm. "Thank you Sirius."

Harry flew laps in the cavern on the cleansweep 7. He had had to let Hedwig go again seeming as he returned to the underground chambers of Gringotts, though gave her 2 letters to his friends, and he drowned himself in training and flying. Staying in a 63 mile cavern, an empty dragon pen was a little constrictive, but it was enough to practise, and Harry could use his magic to create less boring scenery, since getting his new glasses, every visual sensation was a gift, even white light was a myriad of colours. He flew to the top, scraping along the ceiling before locking his legs allowing himself into a freefall before pulling up and righting himself.

He and Sirius had gotten closer since the deed business. It wasn't just the massive amount of money spent on it; it was telling him they were going to start a life together, Harry was still wary of him but would take him over his aunt (he tried not to think about them too much) and was glad he was his guardian. They both returned to Gringotts of course, they needed the extra time and the training the bank offered, and Harry was still, apparently, healing from the horcrux extrication. The unsaid extra was that he and Sirius got extra time to bond and though it didn't feel as if that was what they were doing, Harry had to admit the fear and slight loathing lessened each day.

The house was where they would live come Christmas, should Harry wish it. Sirius had his own house of course, several, in fact, Black properties, dotted around the globe and they could explore each of them. This house in Diagon Alley was solely Harry's where he could live once he graduated (or before he graduated depending on how things panned out) and protected seven ways from Sunday against people finding it, attacking it, robbing it and such like. Another point in favour of them bonding was how Harry couldn't help himself and had teased Sirius mercilessly about how he couldn't get the blond hair dye out his mane. He turned upside down once more, he did believe Ragnok was still calling him Heidi.

The cleansweep 7 wasn't as good as a Nimbus 2000, but Harry had to admit he did not feel as rocky or unguided on a beginner's broom, even if he couldn't really be considered that much of a beginner anymore. He drew a snitch out his pocket, another present from Sirius given to hone his quidditch skills, and let it loose. He charmed it to be faster and wilier than normal to account for the lack of bludgers, quaffle and teammates. He had been chasing it for a mere 10 minutes when movement out the corner of his eye made him pull up and whirl towards the entrance,. The black robes and mask were unmistakeable; a death eater had entered the underbelly of Gringotts.

"Reducto!" The curse missed him by inches and caved a hole in the wall behind him, but the cutting curse was directly behind it and Harry had to barrel roll out the way.

Harry slipped his wand out the holder and activated his goblin shield, 'protego,' was a first year spell, or was, according to Sirius, but required too much continuous magic to hold up against a death eater. He did another flip to deflect bombarbo and another diffindo. "Expelliarmus!" He shouted, not really expecting it to work but the attacker had to dive to block it and Harry kept it up with jelly legs jinx, tripping hex, petrtificus totalus, avis and bat bogey hex (Sirius favourite due to it being used as a prank).

His attacker was right on the attack though throwing curses Harry had not even heard of and much more dangerous, a curse he recognised as a blood boiler, a bone breaker, stupefy, incendio and expulso. If only he had the power to cast a patronus, he could send for help. How the hell did a death eater even get in the bank? He raised his shield to deflect three more spells and responded with the only ones he knew, firing the same ones over and over, occasionally getting a hit, but only managing to hold it for seconds before having to fly off to avoid being hit himself. He noticed his opponent had not cast any unforgivables.

A cutting curse clipped his leg as he used his shield to protect his vital points and only being on a broom meant he didn't collapse from the sudden almost loss of limb. With blood flowing and Harry hastily casting a pain numbing spell, he charged the death eater, pushing the broom to full capacity, probably damaging it with the speed it was going; knowing full well that he had to do something drastic, he would die if he stayed here any longer. He had the pleasure of watching the scum's eyes widen and he had to jump out the way again, still having the full force of the broom knock him off his feet and send the wand from his grasp.

Harry was going too quickly to even think about summoning it and just about managed an 'alohomora' on the door to release him. He shot through and into caverns and corridors, having to jump off the broom to stop him from crashing and chose a direction, not knowing or caring where he was going and hoping he did not reach a dead end. He could feel the death eater gaining and when he felt an arm wrap around his waist, turned around and stabbed him in the eye, making him release him with as colourful curse. He took off again, trying not to feel the blood pouring from his leg and ignore the pain number that was starting to wear off.

"Wait!"

'Did he seriously expect that to work?'

"You're hurt."

'Exactly.' Where were the guards?

"Cub!"

What? What!

He stopped dead and as the death eater who may not be who he seemed, reached him, Harry pulled back and punched him in the face, hard. "Sirius!" he screamed.

Sirius pushed the mask off his face, he was still unrecognisable, polyjuice perhaps, and one of his eyes was red and watery but it was definitely him. "Hi."

"You scared me half to death!"

"That was the point; I wanted to know how you'd react."

"What if you'd hit me with something more serious? You could have killed me."

"Ridiculous, none of them would have killed you, just dangerous enough to make you react as if you were really in danger. I was going to heal you but you ran."

"I thought I was still in danger."

"Well now you know," he drew out his wand and pointed it at his leg but Harry batted him off.

"I don't need your help, you're a psychotic nutcase, I thought you were meant to protect me, stay the hell away from me." He tried the 'episkey' on his own, it didn't work, the spell level was too high and only served to make it stop bleeding and close slightly but it was enough to stop it being dangerous. He walked off, retracing his steps back to their quarters, refusing to look Sirius in the eye as he went, relieved when Sirius didn't follow. He could probably do with a blood replenisher but couldn't be bothered to find one once he flopped on his bed and dug out one of his quidditch magazines, (Ron had given him his entire collection for Christmas) he didn't feel like studying.

He felt angry tears stab his eyes, there was no reason he should feel quite so betrayed, it was even a little funny, but he wasn't feeling it then. He had done quite well too when he thought he was in danger. When he had recovered a little energy he tried to heal his leg again, it still didn't close completely but he could put weight on it without it opening up.

He heard a knock at the door a little while later, "Harry?"

Silence.

"Come on; let me in, that leg really needs to be looked at.

"Colloportus." It wasn't enough to keep him out, but it was a clear enough message to let him know he wasn't wanted.

"Harry, I'm sorry, it was for your own good, I was just trying to help you."

Harry heard the door knob rattle and he angrily sent an incendio at it. Sirius' surprised gasp as he drew away made him smile. He didn't try again.

Harry didn't come out for the rest of the day, even when Sirius cooked something delicious and was possibly holding it right outside his room. Such tactics were not going to work on him; he'd been starved enough in his childhood to miss a meal or two. Later in the evening there was another knock, "Harry, can I come in?"

"Are you alone?"

"Yes."

"Come in," he unlocked the door.

Griphook was holding a plate of what looked like some sort of hotpot with slices of bread, that was what smelt so good earlier. The hurt had waylaid to anger and though he felt like turning it down, the growl in his stomach told him to accept the peace offering. Griphook could sense it was still bubbling away under the surface though. "My father says that sometimes it can help to unload your anger and troubles on a friendly ear. If you wish to tell me what happened between the two of you, I will stay and listen."

"Remember when he got arrested for giving me a cat face? Does it still count when he was attacking me in the form of training?"

"I think you had better tell me exactly what happened."

Harry only intended to tell him the bare bones, but once he started he was unable to stop. His arm gestures got wilder the more he spoke and Griphook only interrupted to tell him to sit down and take a few breaths and to heal his leg the rest of the way. Once he was done he was out of breath, and found, to his surprise, that the anger had indeed lessened now he wasn't holding it all inside, and smiled at Griphook in thanks.

His friend's face was impassive and Harry was scared he was going to take Sirius' side but then he smiled kindly (unless one knew goblins it could be hard to tell). "I can't condone his methods, but we can't arrest him either. He must have told you that he, your father and a couple of other friends were great pranksters when at school."

Harry nodded, "he also said he was a bully."

"There was an element of that. No wizard has ever been able to get the better of him and likes to think none ever will."

"But?"

"I am no wizard, Harry, and nobody can out prank a goblin."

"I thought goblins didn't believe in pranks, they saw them as attacks."

"Oh we do, but we do believe in revenge. Especially on the behalf of a minor."

Harry smiled, "what can I do?"

When Harry exited his room that morning, his found Sirius sitting lotus position opposite his door, dark circles under his eyes, and judging by the inflammation, he'd refused to heal the one that was stabbed. "Sirius?"

The man started and shook himself. "Harry!" He got to his feet and extended his arms as if to hug him before letting them drop rather uselessly by his sides.

Harry resisted the urge to sigh and hugged him. "You're not off the hook," he warned, "but I want us to move forward, just never do something like that again."

"I won't, I promise, I learnt my lesson."

"But we're going to have arguments," Harry said, "all parents and kids do, it's a natural part. So next time it happens, you don't need to sit outside my door all night."

"Do you mean that? About us being father and son?"

Oh God. He supposed he did. "Yeah, I guess."

Slight awkward silence.

"Can I… make dinner?" he shrugged.

"Sure thing cub."

Sirius was too busy thanking his lucky stars that Harry had forgiven him (he knew he should have given him the house later) to notice that the spaghetti was turning his hair blonde and curly and that his features were distinctly feminine. Griphook had told him the most impotant part of a prank is to keep a straight face, and not get caught, unless one wants to be known as the perpetrator. "Ragnok said I could see him today and show him how I'm doing with my new sword, would you like to come with me?" Harry knew he was going to say yes.

As they walked to caverns of Gringotts, Griphook had done his job perfectly, and while goblins took magical photographs and plastered them on the walls once they'd passed, not one of them said anything. Ragnok, for his part, having of course heard what happened, was ready to challenge Sirius to a duel himself but appreciated Harry needing to fight back for his own honour. He met the boy in the arena dressed in armour with his sword by his waist and several hundred goblins as spectators. The sheer size of the crowd was the first thing that tipped Sirius off something larger was going on, he just never imagined his godson had it in him to be a prankster.

The goblins director had never had children of his own, his mate passing a decade or so previously and before then, him claiming to be far too busy (well on his way, at that time, to the position he found himself in now) to give children any attention they deserved. He regretted it now, he was getting older and slower every year and while he had a line of successors, what was he to do in his twilight years? A child with a prophecy over his head, a dark lord to defeat and nothing but obstacles in his path landed in his lap with the heart of a goblin and as ruler of his nation, Ragnok had more reason to hate wizards than most.

"Well met Ragnok," Harry bowed, "may your gold always flow."

"Well met Harry Potter," he returned the greeting in Goblin "may your enemies taste defeat." And suddenly Ragnok thought that maybe wizards were not so bad after all. Nobody was born prejudiced and was it really so foolish to pin hopes on the heart of a child on the cusp of manhood? "Draw your blade Goblin friend; let's see if you remember what Ironclaw taught you."

He wasn't sure if Harry understood every word coined, but he drew his sword and charged first. He was fast, Ragnok would give him that, it would seem those exercises were doing a world of good, the lack of mirrors was a good thing, if Harry could see himself now after knowing what he looked like when he arrived, sickly and small, he'd possibly pass out. Ragnok kept on the defensive, moderating his strength and not always following through until he realised he was going to have to truly fight back if he was wanted to win against this whelp.

He upped the game, pleasantly surprised when Harry did the same although Ragnok could see beads of perspiration on his brow now. He tried a few tricks to see if Harry could see through them, he did, but still fell to them, Harry gave a cry of pain and nursed his sprained wrist while his sword laid several paces away, the director pressing his own to the pulse point on his neck. "Not bad Potter, we'll make a warrior of you yet." He turned to Sirius, "glad to see you could make it to watch your godson's duel… ma'am."

"What?"

Then the goblins struck, each one of them projecting an image of what Sirius looked like, blonde hair which had lengthened during the duel, now cascading down his back ending in ringlets, his grey eyes now a clear blue and his skin significantly softened. Sirius gave a short gasp in surprise and grabbed his brand new breasts as he tried to counteract the jinx upon him. The wide hips gave his walk a sway he had not had before and the uproarious laughter from the goblins triggered the second wave of the prank and Sirius loudly broke wind, the new form of humiliation growing wilder and wilder the more out of control the goblin spectators grew.

Guessing, correctly, the perpetrator, Sirius shot off a spell. Still on a high from the battle, Harry raised his shield and Sirius found himself with a brand new pair of cat ears and whiskers to accompany his princess form. The photographs were plastered all over the nation (except the main bank, wizards still appeared in the main bank) and would be for the next couple of days until it died down. Harry was not sure what the repercussions for him embarrassing his terrifying, insane godfather would be but being wrapped in a bone crushing hug, getting lifted off his feet as he turned back to his original male body, was not it.

"You're not mad?" he ventured.

"Hmm? Oh yes, bonkers, completely insane, probably always will be."

"Griphook said that you and dad were notorious pranksters, and that this was the best way to get you back."

"So he was the one who helped you."

"I was the one who brewed the potion, princess was a generic form so polyjuice was not needed, the added flatulence was Griphook's idea."

"I'm hardly ever out pranked, well done."

"You can't out prank a goblin."

"You can give it a good go."

"Will you tell me some stories about you and dad from school?"

Sirius went still and Harry looked up to see his blue grey eyes. They were misted over from joy and pain in equal measure. Despite him being bonkers and completely insane, he really didn't seem it then. "Sure cub, sure thing."

Harry had gained fans. He wasn't entirely sure when it happened but it happened sometime between duelling Ragnok and applying sticking charms to the pictures plastered around the nation. The first one to come up to him was a young goblin who looked to be 8 or 9, she had long hair and a sweet face. She kept looking behind her which made Harry think she had friends lying in wait who had urged her to do so, and she twisted her fingers nervously. "Umm… Harry?"

He got down on one knee to look her in the eye, "hello sweetheart."

"I just wanted to say you fight very well… I mean for a human."

Right. "Thank you sweetheart, I practise all the time. What's your name?"

"Donabelle."

Huh. That was… weirdly normal. "Nice to meet you Donabelle." He raised his voice so the others he knew were lying in wait could hear him, "would your friends like to come out and meet me too or would they prefer to hide round the corner?"

Donabelle giggled and looked over her shoulder at the three boys who now looked over, slightly guilty. They were all older than her by a few years and had the same hair; Harry could tell they were her brothers. They came over one by one and introduced themselves as 'Asher,' 14, 'Blade,' 13, and 'Carlton.' 10. All very normal. He found it amusing that they went in alphabetical order in their ages and wondered if it was a Goblin thing.

"Would you like to duel?" Asher asked, revealing the blade at his hip.

"We just met," Donabelle argued, Harry noticed she did not have a blade.

The older boys had blades too and he wondered if it was an age thing or a gender divide.

"It's ok, I don't mind, I actually find it quite fun." But he had a feeling he'd lose, this goblin had been training since childhood, and even if by some miracle he did win, that also wasn't a good outcome, these were the first children to approach him and he'd like to make friends. "However, we could do something together, would you like to play 'it?'"

"What's it?"

"A game. I'm 'it' and I have to chase you, if I catch you, you're 'it' and then you have to chase everyone."

"And then what?" Asher didn't seem convinced.

"That's it."

"Lame."

Yeah, actually now he'd explained it, it did seem kind of lame, weird, when he watched the kids at primary school play it (thanks to Dudley he never got invited to join in) they always seemed to be having so much fun. "Would you like to come flying on my broom?"

"Yes!" "Absolutely!" "Can we go now?"

Donabelle was the only one who really enjoyed it. Asher, pretended to but he doubted it was real, the other boys didn't, they just held him tighter and tighter. The girl was at the age, he supposed, where fear was yet to grasp her and for a child who spent her whole life underground, to fly, even underground, went against everything she knew. He was taller than all of them but it was easy to tell who was the eldest and they naturally fell into the hierarchy that followed. "Griphook said this was an unused dragon pen," Harry said, "so… are they bred here?"

"Yeah," said Asher, "we have pens down below, your remember the poem on the door? They protect the main vaults, vaults like your godfather's."

"But underground? Don't you run into problems like… well, magma?"

"They're not all underground," Asher said in an 'obviously,' tone.

Harry flushed as Carlton muttered 'idiot wizard,' under his breath and Donabelle shoved her brother none too lightly.

"Only the pens are underground," Asher clarified, "we have reserves other places in England, the thing with dragons is that they cannot exactly be trusted to stay out of muggle sight with the distance they can travel in just a few hours flight. They're not like grindylows, nifflers, thestrals or griffins or hipogriffs, they're pretty much always in captivity, you do get wild dragons, but not in England." The young goblin looked around the cavern, "this would be a pen for a young one."

Harry raised his eyebrows, he'd seen a baby dragon, a Norwegian Ridgeback and it was about the size of a human baby newly hatched. A year or two later it couldn't be massive, especially given their long lifetimes. "Only a baby? It's a big pen."

"They need room to fly around. It's not much, but it gives them enough room to fly and stretch their wings before they're old enough to be moved to a better unit, like Romania."

"I have a friend who works with dragons in Romania. Another friend of mine got hold of a dragon egg and hatched it himself."

Asher shook his head, "wizards can be very stupid," he gave him a sly look, "no offence."

Harry shrugged, "no, it's a fair point."

"Dragons are wild animals for the main part, "volatile and dangerous, they are not beasts of burden, the dragons protecting the vaults down below are raised by us from eggs."

It was Blade who caught the subtext, "would you like to see some?"

Baby dragons were adorable. They were kept in a huge glass (magically fortified of course) dome, it was a mile in diameter and half a mile in height to allow the hatchlings who had learnt to fly to stretch their wings and Harry craned his neck to see some of the older ones cruising the roof. "Those ones will be able to move to their own pen soon," Carlton said, "they're Donabelle's age. We're going to keep about 12 of these, we've never had this many young ones at one time before, the rest will go to different protected places in the world."

Harry had seen a hatchling before and he hadn't thought it was cute then, but then it had been very able to breathe fire and Hagrid lived in a wooden hut. He was also in danger of being arrested. They had many different breeds in what could only be described as a nursery; there were about 50 young dragons in total. Carlton, being younger, and apparently, not much of a warrior, considered himself an expert on dragons and babbled on to him about different breeds, which were indigenous to which countries, their diets and behavioural tendencies. "I'm going to work here when I'm older," he revealed, entering the pen with his head down and sat on the floor silently.

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Just watch," Blade said, eyes fixed on his brother and a proud look on his face, "he is a natural, he knows what he's doing."

Donabelle looked troubled. "Only now," she said with a pout. She looked away from her brothers who were looking at her with a glare that clearly told her to stop talking. Carlton has a horrible scar on his arm where he picked up one of the wyrmlings and misjudged its mood. He also has a burn scar on his back, the little ones weren't even trying to hurt him that time, they were just playing, but goblins don't have that natural defence."

"Like cats playing with their claws out," Harry said, understanding. His eyes were locked on the 10 year old too; he truly was a natural, fearless and smart. As he kept watching he saw a young dragon about the size of Norbert, flutter furiously on its tiny wings and landed in Carlton's hands. It turned around and Carlton, keeping his eyes averted, raised his hand to chuck it under the chin and ran his hand down its back, it arched like a cat would and rubbed its cheek along Carlton's thumb before taking off and gliding back to the ground.

He tapped on the glass to get his attention and mouthed, 'can I join you?'

Carlton smiled and exited the pen as slowly and silently as he entered. "Wizards are clumsy and don't care about animals," he said in a sweeping statement that made Harry arch an eyebrow, clearly this young goblin would take a while to win over. "I'll take you in, but you have to do exactly what I say, ok? If you fire a spell I'll get you arrested. Don't make any sudden movements and be quiet. The noise in there is tremendous, but they can hear everything. Make sure they can see you, but don't bring attention to yourself. They view locking eye contact as a challenge, so don't do it, hold your hands out and if you're lucky, one will come to say hello."

Harry nodded, "understood." He turned to the other young goblins, "do you guys want to come in too?" He focused on Donabelle, the one with the least sense of fear.

She shook her head but Blade fidgeted.

"Go," Asher said, gesturing, "I'll stay here and look after Donabelle."

She muttered something about being able to look after herself but Harry smiled when he saw her take her big brother's hand anyway. They kept watch as the three boys entered the pen with their heads down and hands out, being careful not to make any sudden movements or noises until they were seated on the floor. "They can't see outside the pen," Carlton said, "look up."

The boys did as they were told and Harry gasped quietly though Blade had seen it before. Harry was looking at greenery, they appeared to be in a jungle, vines hung from trees and the ground, though it felt like floor, was hard dirt and tree roots. There was a pool of water that a couple of the young ones were playing in. Above them was clear sky and an artificial sun.

"There are limitations on magic," Carlton said, "outside we see only what is important, the state of the dragons, this is not a zoo. This pen is big, but it is even bigger for them, now we are inside, the pen is three or 4 miles in height and far longer than that," he pointed to the end of the pen which was indeed, too far away for Harry to see the end of. "We have 17 adults living in Gringotts, including the ones guarding the vaults down below and the goblin cells."

"Do you ever have more?"

"We don't have room," Carlton sighed, "I wish we did, I love dragons, but they take a lot of work. We sometimes have more if one comes to us to heal after being injured or getting sick out in the wild, if the right witch, wizard or goblin finds it, they tell us. I can't take you to see the adults, you need a proper trainer, and they probably won't let you."

"But it's ok to see the babies."

"They don't like it," every child and teen knew that 'they' meant adults, "but it's ok."

Harry gasped again as one of the dragons came over to him and jumped onto his hands. "Wow," Carlton said, sounding impressed, "not everyone gets a Hungarian Horntail. They're one of the most volatile and anti-social breed of dragon there is."

Harry gave it a stroke, "do you want to pet it?" He offered it up.

Blade went to but Carlton held him back. "Don't," he said, "the horntail went to Harry, that means Harry is the one allowed to touch her. For us to presume would be disrespectful and she would be within her rights to attack."

"I couldn't tell whether she was a girl or boy," Harry revealed, giving her a tickle under the chin like Carlton had done and the little wyrmling crooned.

There was another tap on the glass and Harry looked up to see his guardian. He had almost forgotten that humiliating him got him his friends. By the expression on his face though, he was not planning revenge, he seemed excited. It was weird how he could see out yet the dragons could not, maybe it was goblin magic. He put the dragon down on the ground where it shook itself before attempting (and failing) to fly. He made his way out the arena; the door was visible only to wizards and goblins and let only them through. "Hey Sirius."

"Hi cub, new friends?"

"Yeah. This is Asher and Donabelle, Carlton and Blade are inside."

The little girl offered him a smile, "hello Mr Black," she said politely.

Asher nodded, "Lord Black."

"Gaining an interest in dragons Harry?"

"They're cute, didn't think they would be but they are. And the guys didn't really like flying, which is fine," he added hurriedly, "so we did something we all liked. If I knew the caverns better I'd offer a game of hide and seek, I don't have chess or snap."

Sirius turned to his new friends, "I have to borrow this boy for a moment, I promise to bring him back," with that, he was being tugged down one of the many caverns and corridors that made up the underbelly of the goblin nation.

"How did you know where I was?"

Sirius held up his wand, "point me Harry Potter." The wand immediately swivelled in his hand to point at the boy behind him."

"Nice trick, what year is that?"

"Fourth. But so is accio and you could learn that one now too."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere private," he tugged him into a corridor with no goblins is and produced a piece of parchment. "Look at this."

"O.K?"

"Oh that's right; I should tell you what it is."

"You should."

"It's a letter from Amelia Bones, you know who she is?"

Being the heir of one House and young Lord of another, Sirius had him brush up on his politics. "Head of the DMLE."

"Precisely, and this, is a summons."

"To court?"

"For my hearing. My trial."

"About who was the secret keeper for my mum and dad?"

"Yeah. And your kidnap and hurting those guys in the Leaky Cauldron… but after being in Azkaban, they can't really blame me."

"When is it?"

"Four days from now, real time. This was a shot in the dark on Amelia's part. I gave her the evidence weeks back that I had no trial, anonymously of course and many witnesses have seen me up and about, the doppelganger disintegrated minutes after they subdued it. She sent me a letter, in hopes, but it's real, this is actually happening. Just over a week from now, I'm a free man."